Perceived family impact of volunteering among reintegrating post-9/11 Veterans

Family issues are common among returned post-9/11 Veterans. Traumatic brain injury (TBI), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and depression are each independently related to divorce whereas community ties and social support are protective factors for the family during reintegration. Evidence from elders on the benefits of one intervention, community volunteering, may indicate “spillover effects” of these benefits into the family. Few measures exist to assess the impact of military Veteran volunteering on the family. The authors report (1) an adaption of a benefits measure from elders to Veterans, (2) its preliminary reliability and validity, and (3) differences among subgroups. Reintegrating post-9/11 Veterans (N = 346) who completed a 6-month, stipended volunteer program were surveyed. Perceived impact of volunteering on the family was assessed after completion of the program using an 11-item self-report measure. Rank-based nonparametric tests were used to detect significant differences among subgroups. Preliminary findings support the scale’s adaptation to Veterans, internal consistency, and construct validity. At least one perceived family impact indicator differed significantly (p < .05) between subgroups based on demographic and psychological factors. Veterans in this civic service program perceived that their volunteering may have affected their families.     

Social Service Professionals’ Perceptions of Nonoffending Caregivers in Child Sexual Abuse Cases

This study was designed to assess social service workers’ perceptions of nonoffending caregivers in cases of child sexual abuse. Attributions of blame were examined by administering questionnaires to staff at local social service agencies. It was hypothesized that social service workers who worked in the field longer, were male, or had less education would attribute more blame to the nonoffending caregivers. The findings revealed that respondent gender was the only significant predictor of blame attribution toward nonoffending caregivers, with level of education approaching significance as a predictor. There was no relationship between attribution of blame and years in job. The findings have important contributions for informing the practice of social service professionals who work with families of child sexual abuse.     

Parental Financial Assistance and Young Adults' Relationships With Parents and Well‐being

Drawing on data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, this study examined the impact of parental financial assistance on young adults' relationships with parents and well‐being. Conditional change models were estimated to evaluate the effects of parental financial assistance reported in Wave 3 (ages 18–28) and Wave 4 (ages 24–34) of the study. The results (Ns ranged from 9,128 to 13,389 across outcomes) indicated that financial assistance was positively associated with changes in depressive symptoms and closeness to both mothers and fathers in both periods. Changes in self‐esteem were less robustly linked to parental financial assistance. Although the observed pattern with respect to parent–child relations held regardless of the progress young people had made in the transition to adulthood, the effects for well‐being, which were also relatively small in magnitude, did not. In particular, changes in depressive symptoms associated with financial assistance were concentrated among individuals occupying adult social roles.     

Psychiatric Impact of Gender-Related Abuse Across the Life Course of Male-to-Female Transgender Persons

The psychiatric impact of interpersonal abuse associated with an atypical presentation of gender was examined across the life course of 571 male-to-female (MTF) transgender persons from the New York City Metropolitan Area. Gender-related abuse (psychological and physical), suicidality, and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., text revision) major depression were retrospectively measured across five stages of the life course using the Life Chart Interview. Among younger respondents (current age of 19–39), the impact of both types of abuse on major depression was extremely strong during adolescence and then markedly declined during later stages of life. Among older respondents (current age of 40–59), the impact of both types of abuse on major depression was strong during adolescence and then marginally declined during later stages of life. The effects of both types of abuse on suicidality were weaker but more consistently observed across the life course among both the younger and older respondents. Gender-related abuse is a major mental health problem among MTF transgender persons, particularly during adolescence. As these individuals mature, however, the consequences of this abuse appear less severe, which may represent the development of moderately effective mechanisms for coping with this abuse.     

Extradyadic Activity in a Random Sample of Norwegian Couples

The purpose of this study was to explore extradyadic sexual activity (ESA) in Norwegian heterosexual couples and to identify factors connected to each of the parties that may predict ESA. The study comprised a representative sample of 399 couples (798 individuals) between 22 to 67 years of age. The data were collected by means of self-administered postal questionnaires. In 6% of couples the female partner had had a concurrent sex partner, in 13% of couples the male partner had had a parallel sex partner and in 4% of couples both had engaged in ESA. A man with experience of ESA experienced negative work-to-home interference, was preoccupied with sex, and frequently thought of others during sex with his wife. The male partner of a woman with experience of ESA was reported being self-confident and she perceived him as easy to talk to about sex. Furthermore, his attitude was that two persons who love each other should not have secrets from each other. The woman with experience of ESA, on the other hand, reported having secrets from her partner and to think of others during intercourse.     

Identity,Peer Relationships,and Adolescent Girls' Sexual Behavior: An Exploration of the Contemporary Double Standard

The idea of a sexual double standard emphasizes that men have more sexual freedom, whereas women are subject to social sanctions for the same behaviors. This research uses a sample of adolescent women to examine the social consequences of reporting a greater number of sex partners. The research explores whether there are broader social costs and feelings of low self-worth associated with a high number of sex partners, and also focuses on characteristics of the adolescents' close friends. The analyses of quantitative data (n = 600) provide support for the emphasis on the adolescents' immediate network of friends: Friends' attitudes and behaviors were significant predictors of respondents' own sexual experiences, while those reporting a higher number of sex partners did not report a lack of popularity, desire for more friends, or lower self-esteem. In-depth relationship history narratives collected from a subset of respondents (n = 46) provide additional context. Women often recognized the existence of a double standard on a societal or school level, but support or acceptance provided by the more immediate network of similarly situated friends serves as a buffer against such negative attributions. The findings suggest that programs targeting sexual behaviors should focus on how peer norms influence girls' sexual choices.     

The Substitution Hypothesis: The Impact of Premarital Liaisons and Human Capital on Marital Timing

Nonmarital romantic and sexual relationships occur concurrently with the human capital acquisition process and contribute to delaying or forgoing marriage. Event history analysis is used to model the marital hazard rate of 341 White women born between 1960 and 1963 in a Western metropolitan area. In addition to family background, adolescent characteristics, and employment and educational histories, the structure of the women's premarital liaisons is shown to play an important role in the timing of first marriage. The greater a woman's involvement in nonmarital romantic and sexual activity, the less likely she is to be married by age 27–30. Human capital characteristics and the dynamics of relationship histories operate independently to explain marital timing. This supports the theory that women substitute premarital liaisons for marriage early in the adult life course. However, there is no evidence that highly educated women, or those who are students, are more or less likely to do so than others.     

A note on the asymptotic distribution of the maximum likelihood estimator for the scalar skew-normal distribution

We consider likelihood based inference for the parameter of a skew-normal distribution. One of the problems shown by this model is the singularity of the Fisher information matrix when skewness is absent. We derive the rate of convergence to the asymptotic distribution of the maximum likelihood estimator and study an alternative parameterization which overcomes problems related to the singularity of the information matrix.